Rod Harris

Adjunct Professor | Royal Roads University

Rod Harris is an Adjunct Professor at Royal Roads University. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and an MBA, with a major in Marketing, along with Professional Certification from the Institute of Canadian Advertising. Rod’s research interests are in tourism policy and planning, destination marketing and management, tourism agencies and organizational structure.

Rod recently held the position of President and CEO of Tourism British Columbia for more than 12 years. As CEO of Tourism BC, he led the global marketing of Super, Natural British Columbia, where he carried the responsibility of managing the investment of more than $475 million in tourism destination marketing funds, during which time he attracted an additional $50 million in resources for regional destination management initiatives. In this period, the tourism industry of British Columbia saw tourist expenditures grow from approximately $8 billion annually in 1997 to $11 billion in 2009.

In addition to achieving a range of quantitative, performance based targets, under his leadership Tourism BC won Gold Medals from the Canadian Marketing Association (2001), the Pacific Asia Travel Association (2000), and the Canadian Direct Marketing Association (1998). Tourism BC was named BC’s Marketer of the Year by the American Marketing Association (1999).

The Corporation was evaluated by Watson Wyatt Worldwide as British Columbia’s “12th Best Employer” in 2002. In 2004 it was again recognized as the Province’s “2nd Best Employer. Canadian Business Magazine also recognized Tourism British Columbia as one of Canada’s Top 50 Employers.

In 2008 Tourism British Columbia was honoured for its leadership in the Canadian tourism industry with the prestigious Global Tourism Award at the World Travel Market in London, England.